


What Lies Beyond Those Eyes?

by handelgamer



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Attempted Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mariko Zuriko (OC), abuse survivor trying to help another abuse survivor, post 4.2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 04:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14300553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handelgamer/pseuds/handelgamer
Summary: Plate of dango at the ready, Mariko checks in on Yotsuyu. For he knows full well that pain is in those eyes.





	What Lies Beyond Those Eyes?

Mariko stood in front of the ornate door that lead to Tsuyu’s room, holding his plate dango like it was an offering to the gods.  _What in the seven hells are you trying to achieve here, Mariko?_ He thought, anxiously shifting his weight between his feet. 

 

_I want to make her feel safer._

 

_Ah, but how would you even achieve that? Most of your allies are ready to put her to the sword for actions she does not recall. And can you even say they are in the wrong?_

 

“Quiet,” Mariko muttered under his breath, hoping no one would hear. It wasn’t wrong to check up on Tsuyu. Gosetsu agreed that it would be good for her to have some more visitors since she was only seen by him and a few of the trusted members of the castle staff.  _And once more, she is a prisoner_ , he thought ruefully. Though maybe she didn’t fully understand why.

 

_Is that why you want to be nice to her? So that if she remembers who she is, she won’t strike back at her captors once more?_

 

“Aha! How long have you been there waiting there?” Gosetsu boomed down the hall, surprising Mariko. Startled, he jolted the plate up, throwing the dango up a short distance before settling back on the plate. “Oh! I see you come bearing a gift.”

 

“Yeah, Syngi made it.” Mariko smiled and nodded. “I don’t think Yots- ah Tsuyu would appreciate fish as much as she loves sweets.”

 

Gosetsu chuckled and nodded. “Come,” he said, opening the door. Mariko nodded and strode in, carefully balancing the plate. He heard a barely contained noise of joy when he entered and looked over to see Yotsuyu, now the memory-loss addled Tsuyu, hungrily eyeing that plate of dango. “If you need anything, contact me,” Gosetsu said, gently closing the door behind him.

 

“Hello there, Tsuyu,” Mariko smiled and politely nodded as he gingerly placed the dango on the table. “You probably don’t remember me..”

 

“I do,” She smiled. “You were nice.” She extended a hand to the dango before she stopped. She then smiled and said, “Thank you,” before digging into the sweets, in a very unladylike fashion. Mariko smiled. She was so much like a child now. He wondered if he would be the exact same if he had lost his memories. To see the world with wonder and joy and experience such happiness from simply eating your favorite foods.

 

He found himself reminiscing. Of all that his mother did to hurt him, she was indeed a fantastic cook. And his favorite was a simplified version of Spaghetti Pescatore, with just shrimp, instead of the full lobsters and clams. It was this taste that drew him into fishing his own food...

 

_“_ What did it matter to them. I was nothing to them – less than nothing!” Yotsuyu’s old words rang in his ears as his memories turned to less than pleasant. Of going to school, expected to be the best because you are so smart Mariko, and then working in the family shop. It was an expected life in Ul’dah, or so he thought. But...there was little love. All he can recall of his family was never ending punishments. To the point where he forgot entirely what he was being punished for...

 

“Are you okay?” 

 

Ah! Tsuyu! Mariko flinched when he saw that she was sitting right next to him. “Ah! Um, sorry. I got lost in thought there.”

 

“Do...you know me?” Her eyes were questioning and she seemed so scared. And of course at that moment the Echo decided to act up and thrust him into her memories. As it always tended to do at inopportune times.  


 

_“Were we...friends...?”_

 

_“Yes. We were good friends, you and I.”_

 

_A meeting between cousins, even if she couldn’t recall who he was. Of a friend who wanted her to regain herself but on the old terms. Of a cruel Yotsuyu who would make everyone feel the pain she has felt._

 

The dizziness faded as Mariko returned to himself. Again, he saw Tsuyu look at him with confusion and questions. “Sorry about that I-” But before he could explain himself, she took his face with her hands and stared deeply. Those eyes questioning, piercing, saying to him “You know me. Please tell me who I am!”

 

But the image of those eyes twisted by abject rage flashed before him. Of the woman who would repay her own pain a thousandfold on others.

 

_Fear her. Help her. Fear her. Help her._

 

In the end, he broke off the eye contact first, bowing his head in shame. But still, he was a Warrior of Light, was he not? Did he not owe her something? “I knew you.”

 

“Then...” She seemed to be struggling for words too. What was she thinking?

 

Mariko took out his harp. He was a Bard true and true and thus, he had already been writing songs about his latest adventurers. He would sing a song he made with his foes, Yotsuyu included, in mind.

 

_Every flower you have touched has withered_

_Every rock you tried to stand has crumbled_

_Who is the one who hath taught you how to hate?_

_Who is the one who hath broken all your faith_

 

_The poison seeps in your veins_

_It consumes all that you have ever known_

_The dosage increased til it choked out all the life you’ve ever known_

_Hope was gone_

 

_That poison ruins in my veins_

_I feel it’s burning inside_

_I would extend a hand give you all the help I received to cure_

_Let hope live again_

 

Mariko looked over at Tsuyu after that performance. Her eyes were still questioning but at the very least, she was smiling. Mariko took a deep breath and spoke from his heart.

 

“I know you, tis true. But still, what I know of you...it’s painful.”

 

“I just want to know why everyone seems to hate me! What did I do wrong?”

 

Mariko sighed. “Many a grave and terrible thing. But as of right now, I feel like I shouldn’t retell them,” He was taking a very cowardly way out but then again, Tsuyu was scared. To tell her of who she was, who he sometimes saw within her eyes, that would be too much. But still, that same fear in her eyes.

 

Mariko gently hugged her close to him and hummed his tune again.  _Please. Please let me help you feel safe, even if only for a moment._

**Author's Note:**

> -kickflips into the Yotsuyu tag- Hey yo. What up?
> 
> While I do want to finish my Tales of series, I have feelings towards 4.2's plot that needs addressing in some way, shape and form. This is the main big one. Might write one about Eureka later.
> 
> Place me in the "I WILL DEFEND TSUYU" camp.


End file.
